Today: Snow. High near 35. East wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of around 5 inches.

Tonight: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 30. North wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Monday: Snow showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of snow showers before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 21. West wind between 10 and 15 mph.

And of course.....my kids are wishing for a .....

What's on my tree Wednesday...

Katie at This Crazy Life is hosting a weekly blog carnival featuring our favorite Christmas Tree Ornaments each week. Of course I am participating. I need to "find" Christmas again, and I think this might help. My tree is not up yet. I will do all of the other decorating over this holiday weekend and put the tree together and light it so that when the boys return home from their dad's on Sunday evening we can decorate it as a family.

As you know I got a little excited when my daughter got her tree up already and posted about that. And besides, its her tree with her ornaments, so I technically shouldn't post about her ornaments. I am however going to post about our "Christmas Fairy". It started a few years ago when my sister did a fairy tree. One particular fairy on the tree "bothered" Kelsay and she would remove it and hide it. My sister would find it in strange places and put it back on the tree. Then it became a game to move it around and use it to "terrorize" Kelsay with. When I moved into our new home, my sister gave me the fairy. That thing shows up in the strangest places because Kelsay hides it everytime she finds it. I now keep it hid for opportune times to bring it out. So it lives the majority of its life in hiding.

Dying Boy's Last Wish Granted

There is a wonderful new angel in heaven looking over all of us, Brendan died last Friday morning.

Kelsay's Pink Flamingo Tree

One Christmas tree is up! I will redo this with better pictures tomorrow, but I just couldn't wait to share!

Very Sad

Today I received a text message from my oldest son while he was at his dad's for the weekend. A friend of the family for a long time passed away last night. He was young with his whole life ahead of him and left a young son behind. The circumstances surrounding his death were bad decisions he made in his life recently. Decisions that ultimately cost him his life.

My two boys are shook up by this. I am shook up by this. The young man who passed away was the young man moms want their sons to grow up to be. He was handsome, he was charming, he was a hardworker, he adored his son, he had a personality that just drew people to him. He took the time to stop and talk and LISTEN to everyone. His life turned down the wrong road and unfortunately got the better of him. Its so very sad. I can't imagine running into Leesburg and not running into him anymore. He always had a hug and a kiss for me and words of encouragement. Such wise words from someone so young.

My heart breaks for his family and more than anything for his precious little boy who will grow up having a hard time remembering his daddy, and will miss knowing the wonderful man he truly was.

My oldest son is really struggling with this. I also shared a couple of days ago my concern for my son in that he is a yes man and does not wish to hurt anyone's feelings. I fear this could work against him and I fear he could easily follow in his father's footsteps and let alcohol take hold of his life. I asked him to honor the memory of our friend by remembering how his choices cost him his life and hurt so many people left behind to pick up the pieces. Pick up the pieces of what did not have to be. I begged my son to take a long hard look at this and apply it positively to his own life. Then I told him I love him. I can still do that.

I would be oh so very dissappointed....

I was just reading the news this morning and discovered many talk shows are scrambling to get Sarah Palin on for an interview. In fact she has become very high demand. However, one of the hosts requesting her to be on their show absolutely has me stumped. Oprah as you may recalled shunned her before the election. Women across America were screaming for Oprah to have her on her show. But of course, due to Obama, Oprah absolutely ingnored the request of her fans. I have never been hooked into the talk show craze, I have seen a couple of the Oprah shows in the past and have read the magazine a couple of times out of sheer boredom. The woman has never really tripped my trigger so to speak - but nonetheless, I DID respect her and all of her causes. She is a powerful voice for women -and obviously men too - everywhere - but get real folks, she shunned Sarah Palin when she could have at least granted an interview on the show. But, well, we know why that didn't happen. But NOW she would like for Sarah Palin to appear on her show?!?!?! I can't tell you how truly disappointed I will be if that should happen.

Small Fryday Contest!??!??!??!

I have a confession to make. I am turning into a blog junkie. Wait. No. You already knew that. I have been a blog junkie for quite some time. In the past few months, I expanded my horizons somewhat and discovered facebook, then through facebook I discovered some old friends.

One very near and dear to my heart friend that I had lost contact with...Miss Katie at This Crazy Life has been a Godsend to me. I used to babysit this little girl and once I found her blog I read the whole thing in one night and caught up on a lot of her life that I missed once I married. Through Katie I have found several other refreshing blogs that have mysteriously worked together the renew my faith in God, which is something I needed desperately as I continue my struggles as a single mom with an ex-husband who is playing with the hearts and minds of our precious children.

With Katie being much younger than me, somehow I feel I have almost slipped into a role of a somewhat older and wiser mom who can offer reassurance to Katie and some of her other bloggy friends. With three kids, I have "been there and done that"! I think some of my most valuable advice thus far would just have to be the duct tape for boys diapers, as long as you are careful not to get the tape onto the skin! ;)

Anyway, the reason for this post is another blog that I found through Katie and I have followed it for 3 months or so.... is My Charming Kids on this wonderful blog you will find the wonderful story of a miracle. You will see and learn first hand the power of prayer. I cannot tell you the many wonderful ways MckMama and her family have touched my heart and relit the candle inside of me. She will never know how truly grateful I am to her. You really need to check this one blog out if you do nothing else, your heart will be forever engraved with her words and her beautiful family. MckMama is hosting a contest to draw more visitors to her blog, and this is so unlike me, but I am on this bandwagon...

I know some think of us bloggers as foolish and think we are lost in the cyber world, but I have to tell you, when I am at work each day and take my breaks, I take a blog break rather than a smoke break - so you tell me, how healthy is that!?!?!?! My blog has enriched my life by giving me a place to not only vent, but to learn what things in this life I am truly passionate about, by revealing myself to others, I have revealed my true self to me, and it is refreshing to know what I stand for and what I believe and what I want in this life for my kids and for myself. I have learned I am not alone in my beliefs and there others out there who just get it!

So please, take a moment and visit MckMama, You will not ever regret it.

Ya Live, Ya Learn

When I signed on the computer this morning, I was greeted by this odd Google logo:

I couldn't quite figure out what it was, I am a little dense sometimes you see, but when I hovered my mouse over it I discovered it is René François-Ghislain Magritte's 108th birthday. Ok. So I clicked on it and found more information than I was probably looking for but Wikipedia was chock full of information of course! Below are two pictures that I believe contributed in large part to the google logo for today:

Ok. So now you know, ya live, ya learn! Isn't there a song about it raining men???

My Kids

I love my kids so much it hurts. I want nothing but the best for them. I try oh so hard to give them the things they need and add in a few of the things they want as often as possible. Lately its been difficult to just come up with the things they need. As they grow older, it seems everything they need becomes so much more expensive. I do think they understand that I am doing the best that I can in that department and no one goes to bed cold or hungry, and no one awakes with nothing to wear the next morning. So we have those three beasts conquered. They may not have what they WANT to wear, but they have what they NEED.

I worry so much as they are growing up. I worry about their choices they will make. I worry about if I have given them enough guidance and a good foundation to make the right decisions. Maybe I just like to worry. When they are hurting, I hurt too.

My heart breaks a thousand times a day for my daughter and the wrongs her dad has done to her. She did nothing wrong except to be a little girl who wanted to be with her daddy and he slammed the door in her face. As I work on her order for graduation my heart breaks to go ahead and make plans and plan on her dad just ignoring this special event in her life. I think of the special days to come in her life and wonder if she and her dad will ever make peace. Every girl wants to be daddy's little girl and he has taken that from her. I can't make it right and I can't replace him. I offer as much as I can and do the best I can and I pray she will be ok.

I worry so much about my older son. He wants to make everyone happy. He is a "yes man", he will tell you exactly what you want to hear so as not to hurt your feelings. This concerns me very much because by doing that I fear he has lost himself in the shuffle of trying to be what everyone expects of him or wants for him. This has become painfully evident during the course of this latest legal battle with my exhusband. He filed for custody of this son because I filed for an increase in child support. It is so obvious as to why he filed for custody, to reduce child support, not because he truly loves his son. And if it was truly because he loves this child, why would he select only one of his children? How can he shun one child and adore another and pay minimal attention to the third one? These are things I don't understand. And these are things I do not know how to explain to my kids.

I don't worry too much about the little guy yet. I am sure he will give me his fair share of gray hairs too, but for now he is on even keel and his biggest concern is how to best divide his time fairly amongst all of his family members.

I love my kids, I love each of their unique personalities, I am oh so proud of each and every one of them and I hope they know and understand this even when I am "mean mommy" and/or
DragonLady."

So I have been tagged

So I have been tagged to list seven all time favorite albums. This I will do, but I am not going to tag anyone else, if you wish to participate, go right ahead. I had a hard time narrowing it to just seven... The Matchbox 20 cd I will always refer to as my divorce cd. I listened to it a lot during the time that we were first split up.

PLaYinG aGaiN

OK. Yes I have been goofing off tonight and revamping my blog. I wanted to change it over to a Christmas Background but I fear if I go too holidayish I might get busy and it could be stuck on a Christmas tree background or something until next April, and well, that would just be embarassing. But I think this at least looks kind of wintery and we know I like changing things up. The plus side to this revamping the blog thing is that I am not moving furniture and it kind of gives the same "high" I get from rearranging a room. Which you would be surprised at just how often I do that. Problem is, I tend to get hurt when I decide to move furniture, revamping a blog is relatively painless!

So on to another similar topic. I am loving my home office. One day soon I will blog about my entire ordeal with the arched window in my office that lets in too much light in the early mornings. It was a painful and frustrating ordeal that I am just not quite ready or able to completely put into words, but I will one day soon, I might even take pictures.......mebbe not.

Working at home is great. The kids have commented on how much better my mood is. You see, I can do laundry all day while I am working...and I am getting caught up on that and I can start dinner and have a decent meal with my kids in the evening. Without being totally stressed out. When they get home from school, I try to be at a point in my work where I can just stop and talk with them about their day. It is so cool, you have no idea. I have a comfy leather loveseat and chair with ottoman in my office and they just kick back and talk my ears off. The biggest problem is reminding them to quiet down when the phone rings, it is after all a business phone. But we are working on that.

During the day, I get to choose what music I want to listen to. Very way cool. I keep the tv off, I am afraid I would just be drawn into the other room to watch it. Besides I can get my news updates and blog fixes online as I work, I quite often have my laptop over to the side with messenger on while I am busy working on the other computer, this way I still feel like I am in touch with the outside world and it dings me when I get an email. And the cool thing is if its cold and dreary and I want to stay in my pajamas I can. So far I haven't though, I make an effort to get my shower and get dressed and be in the office and working by 8. (I have been coming in early every day so far!)

I have to give an honorable mention to Katie at This Crazy Life Because I have taken so much from her blog and learned so much from her blog. (Did I mention that I have known this munchkin since she was a baby? I used to babysit this wonderful kid!) I have found some other really incredible blogs that I am dying to link to, but I don't want to look like a stalker or something. I did add My Charming Kids because its awesome, warning, I was reduced to tears. Katie has some other really cool links for adoptive families that are also very heartwarming. But speaking of Katie, I haven't seen or heard from her since I emailed her the buckeye recipe, methinks she is lost in her kitchen!